A chartered surveyor who failed to identify Japanese knotweed growing in a garden during a residential property survey has been successfully sued by the homeowner. By Joanne Atkin in Legal news, Surveying21st May 2019 Specialists in the removal of Japanese knotweed, say that the case strongly reinforces the legal precedent that surveyors must fulfil their duty of care by identifying the invasive plant. If they fail to do so, they could be sued for negligence. Paul Ryb commi

Treating Japanese Knotweed during winter months.

A home buyer has been awarded £50,000 compensation plus costs of up to £90,000 after a surveyor failed to spot Japanese knotweed growing in the garden of the £1.2m property. The buyer, Paul Ryb, ordered the highest level of survey – a Level Three Building Survey – for the family home because he is visually impaired and could not carry out the inspection himself. Ryb, a former financier who lost his central vision in 2007, hired Conways Chartered Surveyors in London in 2014.